Elon Musk plans to ‘significantly’ increase childcare benefits at his companies

(Reuters) — Billionaire businessman Elon Musk said Friday that he planned to “significantly” increase childcare benefits at his companies, including Tesla Inc, with details likely to be announced next month.

His comments came a day after Musk tweeted that he will do whatever he can to help what he called “the underpopulation crisis,” following a media report that he had twins, who were unknown. with a senior executive at his new brain chip venture Neuralink.

“Children are worth it if possible. I plan to significantly increase childcare benefits at my companies,” Musk said in a tweet.

Doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis.

A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 7, 2022

Musk, a father of nine children who Forbes ranks as the world’s richest person with an estimated net worth of $237.1 billion, said his foundation, of which he is chairman, plans to donate directly to families, without elaborating. .

In addition to Tesla and Neuralink, Musk is the founder and CEO of the private rocket company SpaceX.

Tesla’s employee benefits include 16 weeks of paid family leave, according to its impact report. That compares with up to 24 weeks of paid parental leave at GOOGL.O Alphabet Inc’s Google, which has long been known as a global pioneer in workplace benefits.

Tesla trails other US tech companies and automakers in terms of representation of women, according to the impact report.

Women held 17% of Tesla’s US leadership positions, defined as directors and vice presidents, according to Tesla’s 2020 diversity report. Women made up about 22% of executives at other S&P 500 companies, according to a 2020 report published by researcher Equileap.

Some experts raised concerns that Musk’s recent order to return employees to the office could further undermine the representation of women, who are open to the flexibility of working from home.

“While the policy is neutral on its face, it could have a discriminatory impact on women and people with disabilities,” said Melissa Atkins, a partner at Obermayer who represents clients on a variety of labor and employment issues.

Musk recently told Tesla and SpaceX employees to work in the office at least 40 hours a week or leave. The policy contrasts with that of many tech companies and automakers, which offer a mix of in-office and remote work.